Seismic modeling and simulation of subterranean formations may employ a process in which collected seismic data may be used to construct a two-dimensional or three-dimensional model of the formation. In such processes, the seismic data may be in the form of properties of signals that are received after being transmitted through an area of interest, for example, around a borehole, vertically and/or angled from the surface (e.g., land, the ocean floor, etc.), or in other locations. The signal characteristics may include direction, time taken to propagate through the area, amplitude, among a variety of others possible. This information may be combined with knowledge of rock properties and/or the subterranean formation to link these properties to the structure of the formation. Accordingly, the properties of a number of signals may be combined to construct an approximation of the structure of the formation.
The recognition of certain features, e.g., faults, horizons, etc., may be of particular interest in such modeling. However, in some cases, the area of interest, number of signals, number of features, or a combination thereof may be large, such that it would be useful to employ computers to automatically detect, enhance, and extract information about the features. One way this is done is by using a windowed Radon transform. Briefly, a system may discretize the area of interest into pixels (two dimensions) or voxels (three dimensions). The system may then sum the signal property (e.g., intensity) of the pixel or voxel with those of a certain number of its neighbors in a range of directions. If the intensity sum for the subject pixel or voxel is higher in one direction, it may be flagged as part of a possible feature. Next, the system may look for the next pixel or voxel that is part of the same feature or may simply move on to the next pixel or voxel in sequence. Such techniques may employ a “brute force” method, such that a line or plane extending from the subject pixel or voxel sweeps across a range of angles, calculating the intensity sum for each angle, and then moving on to the next pixel or voxel and repeating the process.